Am I the only one that thinks the scene between Frodo and old Bilbo at the start of the movie is rather... awkward? I can't pinpoint what it is, but it feels almost... wooden. Maybe not the right word.

I loved the acting in the rest of the movie, but that scene itself feels so weird.

I sensed some, too. I feel like it was micro-machine-man-rushed. Do you realize how much content was packed into those few minutes? It seems like it could have been longer and less awkward, but if it were then it would have annoyed people who want to "get on with things" more. I also think it could have been less awkward if it was worked into the story a little bit more, which again would have taken more time that they really didn't seem to have.

At the same time, I really did get a thrill out of all the tie-ins within that short clip so I'm glad it was there!

It was the smile that Frodo gave Bilbo when he saw him writing... That's so fake, If he would he see his uncle everyday and loved him he didn't need to laugh everytime he saw him there ! that was such poor acting or directing, really just horrible..

i think the vastness of information we receive in such a short time is necessary for the the three films. it establishes the points of signifcance and gets that out of the way for when the narrative encounters those parts of the stories. the film won't have to stop and explain as much. and the vastness of the information delivered ties in with this being bilbo's recollection of the story in its establishment of key events before his own participation began. thus, the events before his own participation will come fast and furious to give the general essentials of what happened before the real story begins. i think i understand your point though. i wonder if they thought about the erebor part of the prologue being presented complete without any narrative dialogue. we would see what we need to without it running the risk of information overload. what is significant in the plot will truly be signficant if it deserves to be, thus we the audience don't need to be told explicitly that something is significant LOL. or maybe we do because the arkenstone bit would need a bit of explaining for its significance. but the wealth sickness, smaug the dragon, and elf betrayal sort of goes without saying lol. we can see it, don't need to hear it lol and still maintain the idea that bilbo is writing it. does what i say make sense?

That seemed very odd to me. Almost like they were waddling, I think - at least Frodo.

I'd have rather they just dropped the scene entirely. "...not till now have I understood the tale of your people and their fall. As wicked fools I scorned them, but I pity them at last. For if this is indeed, as the Eldar say, the gift of the One to Men, it is bitter to receive." -Arwen

Ian Holm seemed very lethargic during the whole scene. And he didn't look the same to me. I'm aware that he's now in his 80s, but nevertheless it was striking to me how different he looked from FOTR, at least it was when I first saw AUJ. His hair looked wet and a lot stringier, and he obviously packed on a few pounds. I really didn't notice much of a difference in Frodo.

It's probably impossible to conceal the fact that this conversation is an artificial construct, deemed necessary to convey a whole lot of exposition to the viewers, in a conversation that would never have taken place in real life. It makes matters worse that this is constructed to link Hobbit to LotR assuming viewers have seen LotR first. Today that is true for many (but by no means all) viewers. In the future, much less so. So it will "age" the movie a lot.

I can recall reading a few years ago that Guillermo del Toro had hoped to use Ian Holm as young Bilbo. No offense to Mr. Holm, who did a fine job as older Bilbo, but thank heavens we got Martin Freeman.

As much as I loved this scene, it felt... I don't know... maybe a little forced? I hesitate to say that, but I suppose I mean that when I looked at Frodo, I didn't see FotR Frodo but RotK Frodo. Granted, there's only so much you can do with CGI and makeup and his voice is of course aged by about a decade so of course he'll have had much more acting experiences and look and sound a little different (same with Ian, really), but I'm not sure if it was just the tone of the scene or what, but it felt "acted."

Does that make sense? I really enjoyed the scene, don't get me wrong, but after seeing it so many times I still get that feeling - that they were acting like Frodo and Bilbo and maybe not the ones I'd come to love over the years. Maybe it was the way the scene was directed, or maybe it was because in the trilogy they'd had much more time to get into the characters whereas this time they'd had all of the experience from the trilogy with those characters and had to act as if none of that had happened yet. Don't know, just feels forced.

… would have been great as Bilbo perhaps 20 years ago. He does, after all, know the material inside out, and he is terrific as older Bilbo in FOTR. However, he has been ill and I don't think he could have played younger Bilbo now. Taking everything into consideration, I didn't have that much of a problem with his appearance in AUJ, and I loved his voiceover of the Erebor sequence.

In Reply To

The difference really is striking....

I can recall reading a few years ago that Guillermo del Toro had hoped to use Ian Holm as young Bilbo. No offense to Mr. Holm, who did a fine job as older Bilbo, but thank heavens we got Martin Freeman.

it would have been awesome for Ian Holm to be able to play young Bilbo (which I had actually assumed he would when it was announced TH would be a film, but I wasn't too aware of his age at the time), but Martin Freeman, I must say, is absolutely perfect for young Bilbo....in my opinion.

There was a thread about this back in January link. At the time I said it seemed like Elijah phoned in his performance. Yet I hesitate to pan the decision to include the bookend scene since it was done expressly for the fans. Perhaps we all learned something from this?

"Ah, how ironic, the addictive qualities of Sauron’s master weapon led to its own destruction. Which just goes to show, kids - if you want two small and noble souls to succeed on a mission of dire importance... send an evil-minded beggar with them too." - Gandalf's Diaries, final par, by Ufthak.